JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Feb. 10, 2011) - Following an 11-day layoff from match action, the ETSU women's tennis team hits the road to the northeast for matches with Columbia and No. 40 Yale, beginning on Friday.

The Bucs enter the weekend with a 2-1 overall mark to begin the season. The team most recently fell to No. 52 Wake Forest back on Jan. 30 after defeating Milligan and Eastern Kentucky to open the spring season. After opening the season at home against Milligan, the Bucs are currently in the middle of an eight match road swing. ETSU does not play at home until March 11 against Belmont.

ETSU senior Kelly Holtzhausen (Johannesburg, South Africa) earned the Atlantic Sun player of the week award last week for her solid play against Eastern Kentucky and Wake Forest. It was Holtzhausen's first career A-Sun player of the week award and the first for the Bucs since Yevgeniya Stupak was honored on Mar. 4, 2009.

The Bucs will open the weekend against Columbia in New York City on Friday. Columbia has started out the season strong as they are a perfect 3-0 heading into the weekend. The Lions have defeated Fairleigh Dickinson, St. John's, and Stony Brook to open the season. Columbia finished with a 10-13 mark just a year ago.

Following the match with Columbia, ETSU will travel to New Haven, Conn. to take on No. 40-ranked Yale. The Bulldogs have played well in the opening weeks of their spring season, beginning with a 7-0 victory over Buffalo, a 6-1 victory over Boston College and 7-0 sweep against Boston University. The Bulldogs' first loss came against national powerhouse No. 12 Notre Dame at the opening of the ITA Division I Kickoff Weekend. The next day, the Bulldogs bounced back to defeat No. 47 Utah 5-2. Yale most recently fell to No. 20 Vanderbilt.

Following the trip to the northeast, the Bucs travel to Atlanta on Feb. 19 to take on Georgia State. The match is set for 12 noon.

For more information on ETSU women's tennis please go to ETSUBucs.com and click on the women's tennis link. Also, be sure to follow ETSU Athletics on Facebook and Twitter.